Word on the street is JrKarp will be there with his 20 ton Press....

Quoted: Quoted: Word on the street is JrKarp will be there with his 20 ton Press.... You mean the one we sold to Adirondak1? Just make sure you have a couple drill presses, and, just as important, chucks for them.

Word on the street is you will be picking one up the night before from Harbor Freight due to lack of equipment...

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Word on the street is JrKarp will be there with his 20 ton Press.... You mean the one we sold to Adirondak1? Just make sure you have a couple drill presses, and, just as important, chucks for them. Word on the street is you will be picking one up the night before from Harbor Freight due to lack of equipment... Not I.  I've got one AK I built and one I bought.  That's enough for me.

Word on the street is you have an unfinished PRK from the last build which you could use at the "New" build....

You know there is knowledge to be spread.... like how to not press a barrel...

It is this simple, proceed with caution new "AK party" builders.

You may or may not have everything necessary to build the kit in one complete day, let alone enough instruction, coordination, and general wherewith all to complete the build.  

Simply put, Wade and Glenn saved those of us who had not a clue. Thirsty was solid too.  In the last  AK party thread, several made affirmative statements that those who knew nothing would be good to go, needless to say that was an over statement.

My personally thoughts in summation:

Pros: Wade, Glenn and his "Magic tool box", a tattooed guy I cannot remember his name, Wade's wife, Thirsty to a lesser extent.

Cons: Damn... where to start.... well approx 15 people claimed they wanted rec's duracoated and agreed to split the cost with me... I spent 75 bucks on HK black duracoat, only to have 5 people use the duracoat and one guy had me do 4 of his rec's but only paid me for one.... yea, needless to say I was not shocked, its ARFCOM.

I admittedly knew nothing, was told I would be all good showing up knowing nothing, this is a simple warning, read before you go on how to do what.

Lack of equipment, this was no ones fault specifically but it made things a nightmare logistically, I am not sure how some people do things, but with approx 20 guys, one press and one drill.... thats not gonna take one day, so I wound up getting a new 20 ton press and drill press, yea it was that easy.

Lack of coordination, if instead of people going to various steps all willy nilly, if a process such as 1) press out all barrels, or 2) demill all kits first, whatever, so everyone was on the same step, completion would have been easy.  Several guys were done by 11 a.m or earlier and took off. Thats all fine and good but one of those people stated in the affirmative they would be "helping" the new guys yadda yadda, again it's arfcom, I am not shocked.

For an AK build, there were more FAL's being worked on then expected, I would have built a FAL if I knew that party was half and half


The place where it was hosted had a bunch of "good ole boys" show up and pretty much try to make unsupported statements about we needed an FFL present, yea they knew the law really well.  Whoever hosted it should have told them to go do some reading, plus he said he was a member... I'd have told them to GTFO.

Come down to the TXHTF and see how a real build party is done, guys like FALARAK et al. will give the new guys an education. But this was my first AK build, and I did learn things, but I am also trying to give new guys like myself a heads up.

If I were to go again, I would hope Wade or Glenn were leading the charge.

There is more, but basically, if you do not have a working knowledge of what your doing, "buyer" beware. Thats all I have.


Oh wait, Wade's wife is a good first aid person as JrKarp can attest.

Quoted: Im alittle annoyed at colds post...first off it was stated about a million times that you MUST show up with your kits DEMILLED...and only a few did....this alone added 5HRs to the build!!!!!! as for it being a mess...look, this was the second time we ever did this. the first build we had 8 guys...this one we has 25!!!!!!! we were alittle unprepaired for the amout of people that came...and alot of people who said they were bringing tools never showed or didnt bring them the second build. the first build was a huge hit.....the second build everyone decided to do different style AK's,people were NOT prepared for the build and everybody wanted to do something different... I appologize we were not cordinated enough for you cold....but if it was such a bad day for you feel free to pass on the next build..if there ever is one. for the people who showed up ready to rock..i think almost all of them were DONE with there kits by 1-2 O'clock. I hate when people say shit like this, I take it personally sence it was my club and most of it was set up by me I did the best I could with what i had....the next time we have a build and we have it at my place...were limiting it to 10 people MAX and there will be NO painting in the house. you WILL have your kit demilled before you get to the build, and you WILL pay for the rentle of the club. you WILL be responsable for the building of your own kit, and you WILL be limited to doing romy builds....     ............there....that seems to take alot of the fun out of it now dont it...but then i guess the build will run alittle more smoothly

I will respond to each statement in order as presented, note I am not the least bit upset but would like to prevent others from falling into the same situation as JrKarp and I did, plain and simple, if you take it personal, grow up, it was not directed at you.  

WHERE was it stated WE ALL MUST SHOW UP WITH KITS DEMILLED? Thats not what the AK build part pt 2 thread led me to believe.... plus numerous comments to the contrary.  Link me, if Im wrong, thats fine.

I hope you take my points and use them to make it better, if you are annoyed, tough cookies. Myself and JrKarp did demil per instructions, the best we could, and stated so in the thread.  Again go back and read his and my comments pre build party... maybe you need a refresher on what was said when we asked" if things are NOT fully demilled will we be OK?" . People (not you in particular) made it clear it would be "no problem do what you can, we got you", etc.

Yes people stated they would bring tools then at the last minute ie 72 hrs before build, a press was gone. One guy was like "I went and looked at one" Yea that is gonna make things all better...

Be annoyed as you like but thats the facts, and myself and JrKarp covered that end when people dropped out for whatever reason.  You guys were a lot unprepared, but you learn from things like this, I will not however allow people to go into this thinking as I or JrKarp did.  

FOR SOME it was a nightmare logistically, I am sure I was not the only one who thought this, hence my comment of Wade or Glenn who clearly had a handle running it, do what you wish. It was not a bad day just a disaster based on what I saw: you guys had a drill press with no CHUCK, this was the only press there, kind of an issue.  If I had not gotten a second press which everyone used, were you going to wait until the afternoon when Glenn showed up with a chuck or simply just sit there and try in vain to demill with it... because I saw how far that went....

I am glad you are stating in the affirmative what NEEDS to be done BEFORE HAND, because it was not the case.  Like it or not this "constructive criticism" is how things get better, like it or not.  The painting part was my mistake, I should not have extended the offer but, thats what I get for trying to help. No biggie live and learn, it is only money.

If you can't take some constructive comments on how to make things better... well... oh nevermind... but that was all it was meant to be, so take it in stride my friend.

Quoted: Quoted: Instead, some of the people who were done sat on their asses and didn't even offer to help those of us who were obviously struggling. Spare us your outrage. pfft....dont get my started. you chose to do a more complex build your first time out...and yup, I was one of them guys sitting on my ass. because all i've ever build were romys and knew nothing about the kit you were working on....and i did offer to help you for what i could do. so your welcome for that. and for what i recall I posted COUNTLESS times that i DID NOT was clod spraying duracoat at the club..which he COMPLETELY disregarded and did anyway....he also spent a majority of the day spraying parts iunsted of working on his own kit, and at 5PM paniced because everyone was done and he hadnt even started.. dont give me your shit....if there are better build partys out there by all means ATTEND THEM.....but to all the first build guys that had fun and dont bitch about the small things....your welcome back any time....

JrKarp stated what build he was doing, and people said, you will have help etc. Maybe not from you, but it was really Glenn, Wade and Thirsty who helped the new guys. Did you sit on your ass? I dont even know who you are, but if you say so, I bet you did .

FYI: MEMORY SERVES ME: I moved out to the porch when asked, if you wanted me to quit, you only had to ask,... you did not, I guess you did not feel it was such a big deal.   Or was I too scary with the "hobby paint gun" .